Home > 14 killed, dozens injured in blast at Mexican state oil company offices

14 killed, dozens injured in blast at Mexican state oil company offices

By bcervantes

Created Jan 31 2013 - 6:11pm

Thursday, January 31, 2013 - 6:11pm

MEXICO CITY — An explosion rocked the offices of Mexico's state oil company Thursday, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more, the country's interior minister said.

At least 80 people were injured in the Mexico City blast, Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told reporters.

Dozens of people were trapped in the building after the blast, Foro TV reported.

Rescuers were searching for survivors in basement of the large office tower, Osorio Chong said.

"People were screaming. ... You could see pieces of the wall falling to the ground," said Joaquin Borrell Valenzuela, an attorney for the Pemex comptroller's office who was in a courtyard outside the building at the time of the blast.

The blast prompted an evacuation of personnel from the Pemex offices, a company spokesman told Notimex.

A large plume of smoke rose near the office tower after the explosion.

Images from the scene showed emergency rescue teams carrying people on stretchers.

Authorities said helicopters carried some of the wounded to hospitals.

It was unclear what caused the explosion, which occurred in the building's basement, Pemex spokesman Francisco Montano told Notimex.